Applications due June 28, 2023

HUD has released Notice PIH 2023-10, outlining the application process for Emergency Safety and Security Grants (ESSG) as part of the Public Housing Capital Fund program. This funding may be used to address natural disaster emergencies, carbon monoxide detectors, heat and smoke detectors, and crime or drug-related activities in public housing. PHAs may apply for funding to support one or more projects, but the total amount requested cannot exceed $250,000 per agency.

For deadline and submission information requirements, see Notice 2023-10, the Notice of Due Date for Application Submission document, and the April 30 edition of The NAHRO Monitor.

HUD has published a National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) score calculator for properties that have had an NSPIRE Demonstration inspection. This calculator does not apply to pass/fail inspections.

The tool is a Microsoft Excel file into which PHAs or POAs can enter the number of deficiencies from an NSPIRE Demonstration inspection by location and severity. It provides a rough NSPIRE score estimate based on the deficiencies cited at the time of the inspection and duplicates the scoring methodology explained in the proposed NSPIRE Scoring Notice. HUD emphasizes that this tool only provides an estimate of inspection scores and that past inspections are less accurate because both the NSPIRE standards and property conditions may have changed.

Download the calculator and find more information on the NSPIRE webpage.

HUD recently published a study titled “Evaluation of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD): Early Findings on Choice Mobility Implementation.” In projects that have converted from public housing to either project-based rental assistance (PBRA) or project-based vouchers (PBVs), the housing agency is required to allow residents to request a housing choice voucher (HCV) (i.e., a tenant-based voucher where the subsidy follows the family) after the resident has lived in the RAD property for 1 year (for PBV-based properties) or 2 years (for PBRA-based properties). If requested, the resident will be provided a voucher when one becomes available.

The study found the following:

• There were only limited instances where residents requested HCVs;
• While most agencies adopted limits to the number of HCVs requested at once, none of the agencies ever reached those limits;
• Housing agency staff felt they effectively communicated the choice mobility option to their residents, while resident experiences varied between agencies;
• Both housing agency staff and residents mentioned other barriers to exercising the choice mobility option:
  • Residents had trouble finding private-market housing;
  • Nearly all residents stated that paying security deposits, application fees, and first month’s rent presented barriers to using vouchers;
  • Housing agency staff noted high rents presented barriers, especially in tighter rental markets;
  • Resident credit was another barrier;
  • There were certain barriers caused by the pandemic; and
• Housing agency staff did not believe that the choice mobility option affected unit turnover or impacted management costs.

One-half of the residents who moved noted dissatisfaction with their new neighborhood.

Residents moving from these RAD developments tended not to receive extensive mobility counseling, but the report notes that “[a]lthough PHAs receive administrative fees for PBVs and other HCVs . . . none of the staff at the PHAs interviewed reported using those fees to cover housing search assistance for residents exercising the choice mobility option. Staff at one PHA noted that the lack of direct funding for housing search support from HUD resulted in their search assistance efforts being limited and ad hoc . . . .”

The full study can be found here.

On April 7, HUD released Notice PIH 2023-08, which clarifies policies, statutes and regulations that apply to agency regionalization implemented under the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration program. Regionalization is an optional approach that agencies may take to more efficiently provide housing assistance and services for low-income families.

As authorized in the 2016 Appropriations Act, MTW agencies who are interested in regionalization may request to HUD, with one or more adjacent PHAs, designation as a regional agency. These agencies have the authority to administer Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and public housing assistance within their given region.

The notice lays out the various options and requirements of those options agencies would have to adhere to in pursuing regionalization.

There are two options in pursuing regionalization, which include:

1. Transfer/consolidation of programs, or;
2. Through a Management Agreement

All MTW agencies that apply for regionalization, no matter the option they choose, must submit responses to supplemental MTW regionalization questions listed in the notice. These questions range from “why is a Regional MTW agency is needed?” to “how would the proposed Regional MTW agency achieve the statutory objectives of the MTW Demonstration…?” There are also a number of other documents that must be submitted highlighted in the notice.

For more detail on the requirements of each option in pursuing regionalization, please see the next edition of the NAHRO Monitor on April 30, 2023.

To view the full notice on MTW Regionalization, please see here.

On April 17, HUD announced $171.2 million in funding for 115 new projects within 29 Continuum of Care (CoC) communities. Additionally, HUD will provide 3,362 Stability Vouchers to 139 PHAs who have partnered with CoC grantees totaling $43 million.

Allocated funds for CoCs will be used to address unsheltered and rural homelessness in 62 communities. The vouchers, which were by invitation only from HUD to certain PHAs, if accepted, would be for rental assistance for people experiencing or are at-risk of homelessness.

In total, HUD states they have now provided $486 million for CoC communities. The funding is in alignment with the goal of addressing unsheltered and rural homelessness, which has been a main focus of HUD and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).

For the full list of grant awards please see here.

On April 18, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development published a notice of change that removes the Three-Year Requirement, which specified that 80 percent of a Community Development Block Grant CARES Act (CDBG–CV) grant must be expended within three years of the grant agreement execution date. The notice maintains the Period of Performance requirement, which still requires grantees to expend all CDBG-CV funds within six years.

In response to member concerns of the Three-Year Requirement, NAHRO submitted a letter to HUD in February 2023 requesting that the requirement be waived. The removal of the Three-Year Requirement provides grantees the ability to expend all of their CDBG-CV funds in a reasonable amount of time.

The requirement, which was written into the CDBG-CV program rules notice in August of 2020, did not account for supply chain issues, prolonged shutdowns, and other issues that prevented funds from being used. The notice of change acknowledges this as their reason for the removal of the requirement and provides further detail of their evaluation.

To view the notice, please see here.

For the NAHRO’s letter to HUD please see here.